Today, two more Seattle City Council members said they would support a resolution that puts the city on record against Russia's recently passed anti-gay propaganda law, which has fueled a surge of violence against gay people there. That makes three council members in two days to oppose Council President Sally Clark (Council Member Jean Godden backed a resolution yesterday). But Clark unilaterally blocked such a resolution last week on the purported grounds that it did not relate directly to city work. (The council spokeswoman characterized Clark's opposition that way in an e-mail to The Stranger and Clark herself, in an interview with the Seattle Times, confirmed the council spokeswoman's characterization. Even so, Clark has backed numerous resolutions in her three terms, resolutions unrelated to city business.)

"I support a resolution," said Council Member Mike O'Brien, standing in the city council hallway when I went into City Hall this afternoon. "I think that what is happening in Russia is horrendous."

Council Member Nick Licata was next contradict the council president. He said, "I think the council should make itself known with a resolution." Clark did not approach him before dismissing a resolution on the council's behalf, he said. "I think Council Member Clark should have have talked to other council members." He added that he is not trying to be critical of Clark, but nonetheless, "I don't agree with her. I hope she reconsiders in light of the seriousness of the issue."

Since Russia approved a law banning so-called gay propaganda, the country has experienced a rash of beatings of gay teenagers, including rape and humiliation on camera that has gone tolerated by authorities. Activists say attention from the United States will make Russians safer. "This concerns national and international issues—this does impact Seattle, which has many Russian residents," argued Licata, responding to Clark's claim that a resolution is off-topic. "We have an obligation to express our solidarity with humanity."

If the council acts, Licata said, the council should consult the city's LGBT Commission and other lawmakers, and possibly hold a public forum. "I would want to do it well so it will have maximum impact," he said, rather than "do something quickly." He believed the council could pass a resolution while considering the city budget, which happens in fall, and certainly by late-November.

For her part, Clark has declared that this a "wedge issue" in the mayor's race, an attempt to pin blame on Mayor Mike McGinn. In fact, the Russian Consul General in Seattle—one of four in the United States—asked for the city's position. When the mayor consulted with Clark, a lesbian, she rejected the idea of a joint resolution. Clark, who has endorsed McGinn's opponent, seems to be the one making this a political football.

Only one other council member has gone on the record on this subject. A somewhat-startled-looking Tom Rasmussen, who is also endorsing McGinn's opponent and is also gay, said in the council hallway this afternoon that he opposes the violence and anti-gay law in Russia, but he did not committ to a resolution. He says the council should wait on the matter until after approving the budget in mid-November. (That is, he thinks the council should consider acting after the mayoral election.) He says Clark "was right to be cautious about adopting a resolution" and says he didn't want a "knee-jerk" response. Asked why he would support emergency zoning legislation recently—which is also knee-jerk, right?—Rasmussen said the council was more familiar with those issues. He says the council should take more time and maybe consider a broader statement that also reacts to human-rights atrocities across Africa and the Middle East.